Attoweys



C. F. MASSEY.

POLE MAKING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED APR.18, 1919.

Patented July 13, 1920.

4 SHEE1SSHEEI I.

' INVENTOR iff /W 7 ATTORNEYS c. F. MASSEY.

POLE MAKING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED APR.18, 19:9.

Patenfed July 13, 1920.

4 SHEE1S-SHEET 2.

W/TN 53 AT TORNEYG c. F. MASSEY POLE MAKING MACHINE. APPLICATION'YHIIEID APR. 18, 1919.

4 SHEEN-SHEET 3.

' b3 INVENTOR A TTORNE Y 3 Patented July 13, 192w.

C. F. MASSEY.

POLE MAKING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED APR. 18, 1919.

Patented July 13, 1920.

4 SHEETS-SHEEI 4.

Ill/A I III IHIH W/TNE S VE N TOR A TTORA/E Y5 To. all whom it may concern:

a v HQE.

CHARLES F. MASSEY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO MASSEY CONCRETE PRODUCTS CORPORATION, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF VIR- rsaaaii.

Application filed April I 18,

Be it known that I, CHARLES F. MASSEY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cookand State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Pole-Making Ma chines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to machines for making concrete poles and the like, and particularly to what may be termed a mul- 7 tiple unit pole machine. One of the primary objects of my invention is to greatly reduce the size and weight of certain of the revolving parts. Another of the objects of my invention resides in the provision of an 'improved construction whereby portions of the machine may be cut out when making poles of less length than that of the machine, or stated in other words, I propose to provide an improved arrangement of multiple-unit machine, one or more of the units, of which may be cut out and only those units used which will accommodate the assembly of the parts,ran d in a novel arrangement of the parts, hereinafter specifically pointed out.

I accomplish the foregoing together with such other objects as may hereinafter appear, vorare incident to my invention, by means of a construction which I have illustrated in preferred form in the accompanying drawings wherein Figure .1 is a side elevation of my improved multiple unit machine"to which other units may be added; Fig. 2 is a plan view of the machine shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1 illustrating certain of the parts in end elevation; Fig. 4 is a longitudinal section through the mold and a unit of the system illustrating my improved row-MA ING MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent. P t t J ly 19241 1919. Serial N0. 291,010.

means for centering the mold in the unit; Fig. 5 is a cross section taken on the line 5 5 of Fig. 4:, such latter figure being a section taken on the line 4 4l of Fig. 5; Fig. 6 is a plan view of Fig. 5, certain of the parts, however, being shown in section; and Fig. 7 illustratesthe manner of supporting the mold during assemblage.

Referring now to Fig. 1 the base of the machine is indicated at A, such base being preferably composed of concrete and structural members embedded therein. Supported on the base are a plurality of box frames B, preferably rectangular in cross section, said box frames preferably consisting of pairs of spaced vertically disposed channels 7 and spaced horizontally disposed channels 8, together with filler members 9.. Secured to the top portion of the box frames, and extending longitudinally of themachine are a pair of T bars 10. .The various parts described are suit- .ably connected together in any preferred manner, and when thus connected they constitute a rigid supporting structure. Mounted in the lower portion of each box frame are a pair of rollers 11, suitably spaced apart, and in the upper portion of each box frame is a roller 12, such rollers being preferably mounted for adjustment, for reasons which will further appear. Extending between pairs of box frames B and mounted between their respective sets of rollers, I provide my improved mold supporting units, such units consisting 'of a tubular member C having at its ends tires 13 which engage the flanged rollers 11 and 12 hereinbofore described, such engagement serving to support the units as against longitudinal displacement.

I prefer to drive the mold supporting units simultaneously and to this end I have provided a driving shaft15 supported in the upper portion of the box frames by means of brackets 16 and bearing blocks '17, the shaft being divided into sections suitably coupled together by means of clutches 18 for reasons which will hereinafter appear. At suitably spaced-intervals I provide the shaft 15 with pinions 19 adapted to mesh with the gears 14 on the units. It will be observed by inspection of Fig.1 that the pinions 19 are located intermediate he pa rs 0 bear ng blocks 1.7,, an arrange ment which tends to secure rigidity and prevent whipping of the drive shaft. The drive shaft is preferably driven by a motor 20 which is supported from the end box frame by means of a bracket 21.

The mold D for making the pole is preferably composed of two semi-cylindrical shell.

- tion'the mold is supported on the rollersQet which are mounted in the lower portion of the machine intermediate the box frames which support the mold supporting units 0, as will appear from inspection of Fig. l. The means for centerin the mold in the mold supporting unit will now be de scribed. v

Extending longitudinally of the machine,

on each side thereof, is a rod 25, such rod being supported at suitable intervals from the box frames by means of bearing blocks 26. At the forward 'end of themachine each rod is provided with a worm gear 27 meshing with a worm 28 on the vertically disposed shafts 29, each of which is provided with a bevel gear 30 meshing with similar gears 31 on a counter shaft 32 which is rotated in .any preferredmanner. Near each end the units C are provided with ring members 33 which are adapted to be engaged by the forked blocks 34 in the manner indicated in Fig. 6,such blocks being threaded to the rods 25. It will be noted from inspection of Figs. 1 and. 2 that the threaded portions ofthe shaft 25 engaging the blocks 34 are oppositely threaded so that when the shafts are turned, the blocks for the respective units will be drawn toward one another in a direction centrally of the units. Each unit near each end. is a )ertured as at 35 at four points, the walls 0 the apertures being inclined as indicated at Fig. 4. An inclined centering block 36 is mounted in each aperture for sliding move1nent therein, such block bein g provided with extended. bearing shoes 37. The centering blocks 36 are loosely mounted'on pins 38 carried in the rings 33.

The operation of the centering .mechanism' is as follows: 7

When the rods 25 are rotated in a direction such as to cause the rings 33 of aunit to separate that is to say when the rings 33 are caused to move longitudinally of the units in,a direction apartfrom one another, the bearing blocks 36 will be forced up the inclined walls ofthe apertures 35 'and'away from "the center .of the units, such movement beingpermitted by virtue of the sliding engagernent of. the bearing blocks'w'iththe pins 38. Contrary-wise when the rings are 'shift ed'longitudinally of the units in a direction toward one another the bearing blocks 36 will be forced down the inelinedwalls of the apertures 35 toward the center of the ma- 7 chine. 1

Assuming now that-a mold 22'hasr been inserted into the machine, in Centering the mold, the rods 25 are turned so ,asto cause the forked blocks 35 to move the rings 33 toward one another, longitudinally of the units, such movement in turn imparting an inward movement to the centering blocks 36, such blocks engaging the exterior of the mold and forcing it into a central position in which its axis corresponds with the 1ongitudinal axis of the units C. As the mold is thus centered, it is lifted from offthe rollers 24 and the motor 20 can now. be operated to rotate the units C and'the mold D through the medium of the centering blocks 36 which also have the function of causing the mold to rotate in unison with the units G. a The parts are rotated very rapidly, the peripheral speed of the units C being about 5000v f feet per minute, untilthe concrete is uniformly distributed throughout the .moldD to form. a hollow pole. After the mold has been sufliciently rotated the rods 25 are turned soas to cause the forked blocks 34 to separate the rings 33, thus retracting the centering blocks 36 in an amount suflicient to again bring the mold onto the rollers 2l-, when the mold may be withdrawn from the machine, and the machine is ready for another operation.

One of the primary advantages of my. im proved arrangement is that I have substituted a plurality of units in place of a sin gle unit, coextensive with themachine, and thus have considerably cut down the weight of the rotating parts and thereby relieved the machine of a' portion of the heavy strain developed during operation. The reduction in weight also makes it more advantageous to use a gear drive in place ofa flexible drive, such for example as a rope. Another important advantage'is thatit is possible to cut out one or more of the sections, i,de-' pending upon the length of the machine, in which connection it isto be observed that the machine can-be readily increased by add ing additional units thereto. The machine may thus be accommodated to the different lengths of poles without the necessity of rotatingthe entire machine. Thus for example it is perfectly feasible to cut out the lastsection for the making of a short pole,

or the last two sections in which case the first I The advantages incident to the peculiar arrangement of centering devices is that the mold is centered throughout its length simultaneously in all of the units whereas before it was customary to manually center the pole by individually operated centering devices. My improved centering device also facilitates handling of the parts by reason of the fact that in centering the mold, it is automatically lifted out of engagement with the rollers 24. Heretofore it has been customary to provide the single external shell or case with a plurality ofrollers in the bottom thereof on which the mold was rested, but in the improved arrangement this is not necessary.

Another advantage incident to my improvement is that it is possible to conveniently mount the motor directly on the machine. 7

It will also be seen that the reduction in weight of rotating parts makes it possible to increase the size of the machine to make maximum sized poles. By making the rollers for the units adjustable, the units may be readily alined and whipping prevented. I claim:

1. A concrete pole making machine comprising in combination, a mold, a plurality of mold supporting units, and centering means for simultaneously centering the mold in the units, said centering means also serv- 1 ing to prevent relative rotation between the mold and the units.

2. A concrete pole making machine comprising in combination, a mold, a plurality of longitudinally spaced mold supporting units, centering means for each unit, and a common means extending longitudinally of the machine for simultaneously operating the centering means.

3. In a concrete pole making machine, the combination of a plurality of mold supporting units adapted to receive the pole mold, means for driving said units in unison, and means whereby one or more units may be disconnected.

4. In a concrete pole making machine, the combination of a frame, a plurality of mold supporting units adapted to receive the pole inold rotatably mounted in said frame, a gear on each unit, a sectional drive shaft extending longitudinally of the frame having gears meshing with said first gears, and

clutch mechanism between sections of the shaft.

5. In a concrete pole making machine, the combination of a frame, a plurality of mold supporting units adapted to receive the pole mold rotatably mounted in said frame, a gear on each unit, a sectional drive shaft extending longitudinally of the frame having gears meshing with said first gears, and clutch mechanism between sections of the shaft, and a motor coupled directly to an end of saidshaft.

6. In a concrete pole making machine, the combination of a frame, a plurality of mold supporting units adapted to receive the pole mold rotatably mounted in said frame, a gear on each unit, a sectional drive shaft extending longitudinally of the frame having gears meshing with said first gears, and a plurality of bearings for said shaft carried in said frame and located at points adjacent the gearing.

7. In a concrete pole making machine, the combination of a frame, mold receiving and supporting means revolubly mounted in said frame and provided with gears spaced longitudinally of the machine, and a drive shaft mounted in the upper part of the frame and extending longitudinally thereof and provided with gears meshing with said first gears, said drive shaft with its gears also acting to hold the mold in the mold receiving and supporting means during rotation.

8. A multiple unit pole making machine comprising in combination a mold, a plurality of pairs of box frames, the pairs being spaced apart, a mold supporting unit revolubly mounted in each pair of box frames, and arranged in alinement so as to receive the mold and means for driving said units.

9. A multiple unit pole making machine comprising in combination a plurality of pairs of box frames, the pairs being spaced apart, a mold supporting unit revolubly mounted in each pair of box frames, and anti-friction means located at points intermediate the pairs of frames and adapted to support the mold during insertion. and removal, together with means for shifting the mold out of engagement therewith.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto signed my name.

CHARLES F. MASSEY. 

